`Oracle Bone' Aids Astronomers From: The Washington Post | Date: June 12, 1989| Author: | Copyright 1989 The Washington Post. This material is published under license from the Washington Post.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Washington Post.Copyright information

"Fifty-second day-fog until next dawn. Three flames ate the sun, and big stars were seen."

Researchers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California have used this inscription on an ancient "oracle bone" from China to conclude that the Earth's rotation has slowed so that the length of a day is now 0.047 seconds longer than it was in 1302 B.C.

The oracle bones are actually pieces of tortoise shell used by seers to foretell events during China's Shang Dynasty in the 14th century B.C.

Astronomer Kevin D. Pang and his team, seeking to measure the slowing of Earth's spin, studied a bone from a ...

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